Stretching is one of the easiest to miss, not because\u00a0we don’t see it but because the behavior makes them look so relaxed that imminent take-off\u00a0generally doesn’t come to mind.\u00a0 But a raptor that has been perched for a while often needs to stretch its wings in preparation for the strenuous and athletic act of\u00a0take-off, just as a human athlete stretches before an event.\u00a0 In my experience, a perched raptor that has recently flown is unlikely to stretch just before take-off.<\/p>\n
Following are several examples where stretching immediately preceded lift-off to illustrate my point.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/1600, f\/7.1. ISO 500, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this Swainson’s Hawk perched on a fence post for 16 minutes and during that time it regurgitated two pellets which may have been part of the reason that it was so “sticky”.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/7.1. ISO 500, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Soon after it\u00a0spewed the pellets it turned on its perch and did a wing-stretch which indicated to me that take-off could be imminent.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1. ISO 500, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n It was, but the bird turned slightly away from me and the head is partially shaded.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/5.6. ISO 640, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I found this adult Red-tailed Hawk and its mate perched in their favorite tree and photographed them for seven minutes before this one stretched its wings and then…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/5.6. ISO 640, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n took off almost immediately after.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/7.1. ISO 640, 1.4 tc,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I approached this Northern Harrier as it warmed in the sun on a cold winter morning.\u00a0 When it began to stretch I suspected it was about to take off but I was faced with a dilemma.\u00a0 The hawk is perched on the ground at the base of a tall bank of vegetation that allows take-off only in my direction.\u00a0 The problem was that I had my tc (teleconverter) on which meant that I would likely be too close to avoid clipping or cutting off the extended wings.\u00a0 I just knew that if I took the time to remove the tc I’d miss the take-off so I took a chance and left it on.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/7.1. ISO 640, 1.4 tc,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I got lucky and didn’t clip anything but the bird is too tight in the frame for good composition and with that background I can’t realistically add canvas.<\/p>\n I don’t want to leave the impression that the behaviors mentioned at the beginning of this post always<\/em> precede immediate take-off – they don’t.\u00a0 Each of them can occur when the bird has no intention to launch but there’s a large enough correlation between those behaviors and take-off to be very useful to bird photographers (or anyone else interested in bird behaviors).<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Postscript: I’m curious about something.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"swainsons](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/swainsons-hawk-4084-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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